CSI Phantom
by csiphantom
Summary: CSIxxxDPDanny follows along his parents to a Las Vegas ghost convention,not expecting that he'll end up in a fight with specters darker than he usually encounters,hot on his secrets are the LVPD CSI catching him in every crimescene
1. Chapter 1

CSI Phantom

He groaned, trying desperately to pull himself up. He should have better than to wander off alone in the unfamiliar city. Las Vegas was the last place he wanted to get lost in, not counting the Ghostzone. His older sister had warned him of the crime rates there, not to mention the crazy freaks she mentioned. It didn't help that he was thoroughly beaten up by a slightly more powerful ghost that he usually faced. Not to mention, the said ecto-being was very durable against his ghost rays and was emancipating a lot of dark evil aura.

He'd started sensing this sort of things shortly after his encounter Frostbite. After mastering his 'ghost sense' which was actually his ice powers, he began developing other senses. Most of the ghosts he fought were emitting neutral, not good or evil, according the hybrid's standards. Evil auras, which Walker and maybe even Spectra had a slight speck of, sent a chill shooting up is spine and a brief ache to his head. The good auras gave him a sense of security and warmth in his chest, he recalled as he visited a certain Master of Time for some wise advice. The ghost he'd met and caught was brimming with it. The aches in his head had distracted him and his underestimation of his ghostly foe was ridiculously the cause of his current state.

Blaming himself for his stupidity, he recalled sensing a ghost when his parents were in the ghost convention in a huge and very snazzy hotel. He figured it was some lame ghost wandering around somewhere, but being on the cautious side, he had slipped out of his parents' attention and into a utility closet. As routine procedure, he found it, got beaten up, caught it, and now he dead tired and barely able to stand even.

His aching knees gave way; he closed his eyes, waiting for the sudden impact of pain. To his surprise, there was none. Someone was carrying him. He struggled to push himself upwards and to turn face his captor. Hoping that the person carrying him wasn't someone dangerous, his baby blue orbs searched into the dark shadows blanketing the presumably-male caretaker. The teen couldn't help but groaned as he accidentally moved his injured shoulder.

"Relax kid, take it easy, I'm from the Las Vegas Police, I'm bringing you to a hospital." The former gambler and present CSI took the raven-haired teen silent and weak nod as a yes.

"My name's Warrick, can you tell me your name kid?"

Danny coughed and choked before rasping out his name.

"D-Danny...Fen-ton…"

"Shhh, relax, I'm taken you to my car okay? I'll call an ambulance over."

The African American carefully placed the frail teen at the backseat of his car. Flipping his cell phone open, he dialed 9-1-1.

A/N: New story that I've been wanting to take out of my system and into typing… a clash of my two favs…sigh of relief it will take a while for this to update though since I'm still on Gotham Phantom and evil but top priority exams…ahh life


	2. Chapter 2

CSI Phantom

Chapter 2:

The boy was unconsciously holding on to a…thermos? Ignoring the strange device, he scanned the small frame breathing quietly in a slow steady pace.

His stomach was showered with bruises. His arms had several minor cuts but a few deep gashes. His left shoulder was exposed through the scorched sleeves of the teen's white and red shirt and revealed a much more serious looking injury. Seeing enough burn victims, either they be dead or alive, he could easily tell it was a second-degree burn. The outer skin had been burnt off completely, exposing the raw wound. Carefully turning the boy to around, he lifted the back of his shirt to see even more bruises…and where those scars? They were thin and very light…but apparent and numerous. Shifting the unconscious body again, he went back to stomach where he found more of the scars. They were very hard too see if one wasn't looking for them in the first place. There were a few on his arms too.

The child looked no older than thirteen, maybe fourteen at most. Somehow, Warrick didn't give him the impression of a juvenile delinquent. Black hair and light blue eyes, and a thin small frame for a body. He didn't look like the type who would even survive out there. Despite the state of his clothing, it didn't look like he was a runaway. Wandering back to the burnt shoulder, he wondered why he didn't see anything else burnt in the alley he found him; then again, Danny was conscious enough to tell him his name in the first place. Dragging himself away from the original scene was probable.

The kid was lucky he was even there in the first place.

He'd just left for work, since shifts had changed and the team was back all in one time slot again. It had been a dark evening, despite the neon lights and several car lights whizzing by him. Warrick had stopped for some reason when he saw a flash of blue light at the alley he passed. Curiosity got the better of him as he put a halt to his car. As he neared the alley, he heard light groan. It sounded like someone was hurt…or drunk. Wanting to make sure, he ran on ahead only to find himself shock to see a kid all battered and bruised falling towards concrete. Luckily, the CSI had caught him in time.

After calling the ambulance, he made a quick call to Grissom telling him he'll be late.

"Grissom, I found a kid in an alley, looks like an assault but doesn't look like a burglary attempt, I got his wallet, nothing seems to be stolen."

"Where are you now?"

"Across the strip near the burger place, why do you ask?"

"You're about a block and a half away from us,"

Warrick looked up from his phone to see a familiar blue and red lights flashing to his right. A certain insect-enthusiast came to view along with a brunette woman and blonde man.

"Sara and Greg too, eh? I'm guessing there's a dead body over there."

"You bet, it was some homeless guy from what we could tell, the scene was a bloody one," Greg had felt green at the gruesome sight, the body was mutilated badly and barely recognizable and blood was splattered across entire walls and all over the floor. Only clothes gave them the clue that

"Is that the kid," Sara's question was confirmed with a nod from her colleague. "He's just a kid…"

"I know," Warrick was looking at Grissom, waiting for reaction.

"You got a name?" his supervisor kept looking at the teen.

"Danny Fenton, he told me when he was still awake, and his library card gave an address, Amity Park, Texas; a tourist's kid?"

"He could be a witness to our case," Grissom neared the sleeping figure. "Warrick."

"Yeah Griss,"

"Accompany him to the hospital when the ambulance gets here, the killer is still be out there, and judging on how beaten up this kid looks, the killer saw him and may come after him." Unlike Warrick, the bug-enthusiast didn't bother to lift the boy's shirt. Instead, he took out his camera and took a quick flash. "Greg, Sara, get back to scene, I'll get back to you shortly."

Sara Sidle hesitantly nodded and followed her former 'mentee' as they left to their duties.

"Griss,"

"Warrick, what did you see?" The superior had noticed his behavior.

"He's got scars all over him Griss…I lifted up his shirt, they're barely visible but still there…he's definitely not a runaway, his clothes were too clean."

"Abusive parents?"

"I don't know, his parents brought him to Las Vegas, he ran off in the streets…" the CSI was at a lost for words as somehow, his theory didn't fit together. Why would a bad parent even bother bringing their kid to their vacation? To abandon him there and enjoy the lights and glamour of Vegas at the same time? Even if that was the plan, why not just dump the kid on the way here?

"I'll get Brass to look out for missing persons." And with that, the scientist left the pair.

Warrick was left to his thoughts. Maybe the kid got separated from his parents, that's all, and maybe his parents didn't beat him. What made those scars then?

Finally the ambulance had arrived, Warrick followed along 'Danny' with the paramedics. He'll get one of the cops to drive his car back to the lab. In his hand, he had the weird thermos Danny was holding on to.

A/N: Still short I know, I'v got a plot and I am working on it. Gotham phantom too, it'll take maybe a week this time, I've got a school competition plus exams. Thanks for the reviews btw


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Taking several photographs of the gruesome scene, Sara Sidle motioned her more inexperienced partner to go ahead. Wearing plastic as shoes, the blonde slowly stepped ahead. He paused to take a quick picture before he picked up a bloody crowbar. About a five feet away from the body.

"Possible murder weapon?" Greg turned to his mentor.

Sara eyed the meager looking tool. Aside from the fact that it was practically drenched in blood, it didn't look like the type to paint walls almost eight feet high with blood.

"Not sure, but it's possible the murderer killed him with it before spraying his blood all over the place."

The younger CSI bagged the evidence before heading to the direction of the body again. Aside from bagging a few pieces of torn clothing and pair of bloody spectacles, he managed to find only little evidence. The body was mostly but not surprisingly bathed in crimson, the face was mutilated and the neck was barely attached to the body as only a slither of flesh was left. The eyes were gouged out from their sockets leaving dark black holes in the disfigured face. The mouth was wide open, revealing the lack of a very important tasting organ…the tongue.

"Sara…he cut out his tongue…" Greg was taking more pictures, "and his eyes…" it felt extremely weird that he didn't feel freaked out by this.

The body was in no better shape as the head. They could see the clothes had been ripped opened, along with the skin that covered his chest and stomach. To them, it looked like a badly done autopsy. The ribs were broken apart to reveal several of the missing organs.

"This is starting to look like a burglary…" Greg turned to see Grissom who had just arrived at the scene.

"Burglary?" Greg Sanders stood there confused.

"The murderer stole his organs…" Sara looked around. No organs in sight, Grissom maybe right.

"Uhh, guys?" Greg eyes were wide. He had just realized some thing. "If the murderer did all this, how come there aren't any bloody prints anywhere?"

Gil Grissom frowned at the fact, the alley was a dead end, only way out was to the streets. Not to mention, there aren't any fire escapes or back doors.

Before Greg could add on anymore, Grissom intervened.

"No, I don't think aliens did it Greg…"

Sara visibly chuckled at the expression on Greg's face which was an equivalent to a disgruntled child's.

"I wasn't… okay maybe somewhere there but…"

"Okay, let's get this scene processed…" Sara had cut him off, hoping to get back on track on what their job was suppose to be.

At the hospital, Warrick had taken the liberty of taking Danny's discarded clothing. If the teenager was related to the case, his clothes were definitely evidence. Even if he wasn't, the clothes were still evidence for Danny's case of victim to possible robbery attempt. Setting aside the wallet and thermos, he took out a large brown paper bag where he slipped in the t-shirt and blue pants. He left the shoes and socks in another bag. The doctors had told him to wait. So far, he's been doing only that for the past hour.

Peering at the wallet, he sighed. Flipping it open, he could tell the thing was ready to fall apart. Aside from the fact that it was burnt, torn, re-stitched rather badly and stained with green splotches, it looked like any other ordinary wallet. He found two small photographs in the slit of the wallet.

One was a picture of the kid, Danny, with a dark-skinned teenager that looked about his age at his right. What was with the red beret? On the Danny's left, a girl teenager in very Gothic like clothes. Must be his girlfriend… The other photograph was easily recognizable as a family photo. The large man in orange and the woman in blue was probably, as Warrick had assumed, his parents. The red headed female beside Danny looked older than the raven-haired teen, she was highly likely to be the older sister.

From the looks of what the CSI found, Danny Fenton was a normal happy teenager in a good family. So how did the said teenager end up in an alley all beaten and bruised and at the same time only a block away from a bloody murder. Did he have an argument with his parents that made him run-off into the streets? It seemed to be a more probable explanation. It was a coincidence that he was beaten up by some thug near the crime scene. Somehow, he found that his gut was telling him otherwise.

He didn't have to ponder on as he found himself face to face with a doctor.

"Mr. Brown?"

"And you are doctor?"

"Dr. Williams, nice to meet you Mr. Brown," the balding medical professional shook hands with him.

"I assume that you are currently in charge of a Danny Fenton, Dr. Williams?"

"Of course, the boy suffered some minor cuts and bruises, nothing much actually, maybe at worst a very mid concussion," The doctor eyed the CSI who looked perplexed. "Is there something wrong Mr. Brown?"

"Wasn't there a second-degree burn on his shoulder?"

"Err, there were signs of an old burn injury on one of his shoulders, but I can't confirm it to be an old second-degree burn..."

"No, no, I meant a recent fresh burn on his left shoulder, and did you say minor cuts? Weren't there some deep lacerations o his arm?" Warrick could already tell that the doctor was very confused on how he was describing the injuries.

"Are we talking about the same patient? Daniel Fenton? Black hair and blue eyes? About fourteen years old at most?"

"That's him."

"Well, we didn't find any of those injuries when he came into ER, we ran tests for any brain damage or internal bleeding, all results points that he's perfectly healthy aside form minor cuts and a hit on the head."

"Can I see him?"

"Of course, he's at the room at the right; he should be waking up by now."

Exactly the time he walked in, the teenager was groaning in his bed and waking up.

_Perfect… _Warrick was happy to see the kid didn't look too tired as the said teen stretched his back as he raised himself up form bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The teen stretched his back and yawn. Still too tired to notice his surroundings, he plopped himself back to bed before realizing… his room wasn't white… Almost falling off his bed, he jolted up in the hospital bed trying to figure where the hell he was. Unfortunately he swerved to fast to his right and clumsily began slipping off the white sheets.

"Gah!?" he clenched his eyes shut, knowing the familiar hit to the pavement was something he should've been used by now…be it by being attacked, defended, or being ridiculously proud on how little balance his body seemed to have.

"Is it just me, or have I've catching you one too many times now?"

"Huh?" the pair of blue eyes blinked opened to discover he'd been saved from a very painful bruise.

"Warrick Brown, I met you in alley remember? This scenario is actually very similar to how we met…" the CSI pulled the surprisingly light teenager back on to bed. "You said your name was Danny right?"

Danny blushed realizing how stupid he must have looked, gratefully taking the outstretched hand. He nodded dumbly, not remembering much from what supposed to have happened before he got in that particular situation. He froze.

It all came back to him in a moment, the fight he had with a ghost… a very dark and evil ghost… He was so beaten up after the fight he fainted…and a guy…Brown, caught him…asked his name… he turned to glance at the wall clock across the room.

"It's one in the morning?"

"Yeah…"

"AW, CRAP! MOM AND DAD ARE GONNA KILL ME FOR THIS!" the now unstable boy started to panic, muttering things about a ghost convention ending at eleven…

"Uh, Danny, relax, I'm from the Las Vegas Police, we'll contact your parents as soon as a broadcast is out, but right now," Warrick grabbed a chair and pulled it up to Danny's bedside, " you need to tell me what happen to you."

The boy stuttered.

Mr. Brown wasn't as observant of people as his Mentor Grissom was… but he was pretty damn sure it didn't take much to tell what the kid was feeling. It was written all over his face. Nervousness, fear…and guilt?

"I… kind of sneaked off from my parents from a ghost convention… I was bored so decided to take a stroll outside, a big guy suddenly attacked me in an alley…" Danny wasn't exactly lying. He did sneak off…and he was bored…he just failed to mention the 'big guy' being a very evil specter and he also cut out the part of him transforming into the ghost boy and battling the said specter. "I don't remember much, sorry…"

Warrick eyed the boy skeptically. He didn't mention anything about a fire or explosive which didn't explain the burn marks present in the scene.

"That's alright Danny, but I'll still need you, we found a body a block away from where I found you, it's possible that the 'big guy' was the one responsible for the murder."

Danny almost looked guilty as he turned away, unconsciously clenching on the white sheets.

"Danny, I need to know if you can remember the man's face…"

The teen slowly shook his head. He knew the description would be useless if the cops were looking for a man…if the real culprit was a ghost. He hadn't realized his knuckles had turned dead white and that he even breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Relax Danny," the man tried to sooth the teen as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's okay…"

"I-I don't remember much of his face…it was dark, I could only tell that he was huge and strong…" Danny, so far, has never met a ghost that killed as naïve as it sounds... he's had mind-control, take-over-the-world, scaring, terrorizing…but never blood-thirsty murder. It was terrifying to the fourteen year old teenager and somehow it was making him feel like the guilty one. "S-sorry… I'm not much help…"

"Hey, don't worry about it kid, my team are one of best out there, we'll catch the guy." He looked into those big blue eyes, so easy to read but so mysterious at the same time. "Anyway, we have a couple of questions concerning your current state of health, when I was checking your body for any more damage, I found a lot, and I mean a lot of scars… these scars looked old and were very faint, if I weren't train to be a CSI I probably wouldn't have noticed either... I want to know where you got those scars Danny…"

"I'm pretty clumsy…I kind of trip every two minutes and back at school I get bullied a lot by jocks, no surprise there…" Danny was lying through his teeth and he knew the man in front of him could tell he was.

"Are you sure about that Danny?" Warrick could see the teen couldn't even look into his eyes when he answered yes.

"I'll be your temporary guardian for tonight till your parents get back, just to let you know…" the African American had wanted to ask about the recent burn that turned into 'old and healed scar' in a matter of minutes which the teen had on his shoulder, but he had stopped himself. No use trying to drill questions on a recently attacked victim, but somehow the said teenager wasn't even in shock or traumatized. As a matter a fact, it looked as if he was never attacked at least never affected by it anyhow. Either the assault never happen which he doubted, or the boy was so used to getting attacked by strangers that he wasn't affected by the whole incident at all.

A blonde Caucasian nurse entered the room, bringing along a tray of food and checking on Danny. As he waited for the nurse to finish the check-up, Warrick had an inkling that this boy was related to their most recent case.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

_Damn…_

It wasn't often an adult would so much attention on him; usually they would be completely oblivious to his presence and ignoring him. So why did fate suddenly decide to give him a sharp, observant, not to mention, responsible guardian when he least needed it. The halfa had planned a night patrol as soon as 'Warrick Brown' had left the building, not literally of course, but at least left his bed side.

But no, they, those unknown beings who control destiny, wanted him to lie down there till his parents decide to ground him till marriage's death do us part if he ever did got hitched. The man who saved him from the alleys was wide awake reading a book. It was almost day break, at about six in the morning.

_Great, does this guy hunt ghosts in the middle of the night too? Maybe he's a halfa! _Danny said to himself sarcastically in his head. He contemplated; the man wasn't that bad; Mr. Brown was actually really nice. He shouldn't be even reprimanding the guy for staying up all night looking after him, despite Danny's silent protest. Finally he decided to 'wake-up'…

"I see someone finally deciding to get up, you okay? You have been staying awake since I came, it's sort of annoying to stay up all night just to make sure you don't run off…"

The teen gave a sweat-drop moment. Okay, so maybe he was super-observant. Almost like a combination Jazz's and Sam's minds, it was creepy. He is so busted.

"Uhh…I'm fine, I wasn't trying to…uh…" _Great…start stuttering; he'll never suspect you now, especially when you're being accused of supposedly 'running off' at the moment. _

"You've been peeping at me every thirty seconds that sort of gives you away…"

"Oh, really? I didn't- err, I mean…"

"It's really not going to help to stutter like that, at all…"

"Sorry, I meant… I just kind of hoped for a chance to get away, so I won't get in trouble with my parents, they always freak out if anything happened to me…" Danny sighed in defeat. "I just don't want them to worry, that's all…"

"Look Danny, I'm sure you're a good kid and I understand why you don't want your parents to worry, but that's their job… all you have to do is suffer their lectures and grounding while you make mistakes ,and they try to make amends…"

"Yeah, I know, I know…" To his relief, the teen managed a convincing half-lie. He really didn't want his parents to worry and especially didn't want to into anymore trouble… but that was just half of the story. He had to track down that ghost. It was shocking to find out the most vicious ghosts were outside Amity Park and in the desert city instead.

A phone rang. From the brown paper bag. A cellphone?

Warrick raised an eyebrow, he had forgotten to check the back pockets he realized as he dug his hand into the blue jeans. He handed the phone to the teen who took it gratefully.

Beep!

"Hello?"

"DANIEL FENTON WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!? DO YOU HOW WORRIED I WAS WHEN I CALL OUR PARENTS TO FIND OUT YOU WERE MISSING!? YOU'RE LUCKY I MANAGED TO CONVINCE DAD THAT YOU FLEW BACK HERE LAST MINUTE CAUSE OF A SCHOOL BUSINESS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FREKAED OUT I WAS THAT MY LITLLE BROTHER WAS LOST IN LAS VEGAS!?" there was some mantra-ing over the phone before the voice continued, "Ah, much better, anyway, where are you Danny?"

Almost reluctant to answer, the teen was eternally grateful for the limit of sound when a cell phone was in handset mode.

"Err… I had a little run in with… you know and got involve in a crime or something…" he glanced nervously at Mr. Brown who at least gave him some space while he was on the phone, "and now I think I'm witness…"

"Mom and Dad are coming back here cause I told them about you, they were furious at first but I told them that you really wanted to get a glimpse of the convention so lied and went for the school trip last minute… you're lucky our parents are easy to manipulate…"

"That's good, at least they won't find out about this whole thing…"

"What's this about a crime? Are you hurt?"

"Someone died Jazz, a ghost did it… this time a really dark one, I need stop it, don't worry about me, I can take of myself, just don't tell Tucker and Sam, they might just fly over here and I don't think I can protect them this time…"

"But…!"

"Please Jazz, don't come here, I don't want any of you getting hurt, this is a different ghost, it kills Jazz, and I think that's its only purpose… look, I've got to go okay?"

"… I trust you little brother, but I'm only willing if you call at least twice a day, to let me know you're okay…I love you little brother…"

"Love you sis, and thanks…"

With a beep, he had turned off his phone.

"Was that your parents?"

"… uh no, it was my sister, she said my parents were heading back home, somehow, someone told them I had taken a flight back…"

"What?" 

"I'm as surprised as you are, some creep in the hotel must have thought it would be funny…"

"Can you try calling them?"

"Can't, they're probably on the plane by now, I tried."

The CSI groaned, expecting the worse, he paged his fellow colleague to call and confirm. It only took a few minutes for the African American to sigh.

"Okay Brass… yeah, I'll take him for a while… got it, bye,"

"Looks like your parents won't be getting back anytime soon Danny, there's been a weather broadcast of a freak hurricane and some strong winds… turns out their flight was the last one between a couple of states, you might be here for a while…" the man informed the teen who seemed unsure whether this was good thing or not.

"Err… how long are we talking about?"

"The hurricane could last for a couple of days; I predict a week at best since there's strong winds too… the worst case scenario is a month long, depending on the damage the hurricane could do on the airport…"

"…great… well, at least my parents will know about the situation when they get home, my sister will tell them…"

"That's good, I don't know how long communications can last if there's a hurricane…"

"…" the teen turned silent, probably curious on how he'll be ending up, now that he was sure as hell can't get back home.

"Uh, how old are you exactly?"

"Sixteen."

"…"

The teen pouted and continued.

"I know, I know, I'm not lying! Just because I haven't grown more than a centimeter for the past two years, people keep thinking I'm fourteen or something…"

The disgruntled 'sixteen' year old had folded his arms and didn't stop pouting. Just because his stupid puberty hadn't kicked in, doesn't mean he was short… maybe vertically-challenged. He is praying his growth spurt would come around before his eightieth birthday.

The doctor came in and eventually relented in allowing the seemingly healthy Danny to take leave with his temporary guardian. As he drove, heading to his workplace, he takes a little peek at his charge. From Warrick's eyes, he could see the teen starting to quickly relax in his presence. Perfectly innocent in nature and trusts strangers, discovery number one, the man noted mentally.

He lets out a tiny smile as he saw the boy fall into deep slumber within minutes.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Chapter 6:

"Greg, Do you know where Grissom is?" the brunette was curious as to why her boss, who practically lived in the lab, wasn't there at the moment. "As far as I know, there's a case going on, unless there was another body found…"

"Him? Oh, yeah, I saw him heading to the parking lot, he wanted to meet up with Warrick there." The young CSI had just gotten the lab report on the blood samples, they took several, just in case the murderer had gotten hurt himself as well.

Eyeing the folder, Sara Sidle took a guess.

"That the result?"

"Yeah. Just got it fresh from the lab," as he flipped through the folder, his face scrunched up in disgust. "Oh great, everything belonged to the victim, even the bloody weapon didn't have any trace on it except the victim's blood…"

The woman quickly snatched it from her junior's hands and took a look herself.

"Not exactly, according to this, there was trace found on the samples, but it just couldn't be identified…"

Before their conversation could continue, they were interrupted by a sight of one their colleagues carrying a kid with their boss along side them. From what Greg and Sara could tell, it was the same kid found near the crime scene. In addition, they thought the kid would have been in a child care center by now.

The bug expert could already read the questions from the look in their eyes. They gave a 'hi' to Warrick who excused himself to put 'Danny' in one of the office's sofas. Apparently, the two had discussed that the witness would need protection, seeing as there was a possibility that guy who attacked the teenager could be a potential suspect. If that was true, the suspect might go as far as killing Danny as well. There was also the case of the boy's parents who were seemingly given false information that their son had gone back to their home town on his own. As a result, the teen didn't have a guardian, nor a home.

"For the moment, the child care services are having trouble coping with runaways and abandoned children, one of the officers there were practically begging us to keep Danny Fenton seeing as he was already under Warrick's care…"

"Is he staying at the labs or at Warrick's place? I heard Mrs. Brown is out of the country for family visit, he can't leave him alone at home can he?" it was Greg who spoke up, the kid looked no older than fourteen to him.

"We're having a problem with that, I'm fiddling with the idea of putting him under all our care, as in the team…" there was a slight twinkle in his eye that made both his younger peers nervous. Grissom having an 'idea' was a double-edged sword, good side was that it all worked out in the end, bad news was that some had to take in some 'side-effects'. In a previous case, Greg Sanders ended up with a really itchy pair 'intentionally' fungal-infected feet.

Unsure how to react, three other people came to view to both Sara's and Greg's rescue, at least that was what the two hoped.

"Ah, Catharine and Nick, perfect timing, Warrick too, I want short little get together at the moment, if you're free of course," With their lack of refusals, everyone was soon gathered in his office.

"Ever had a slumber party?"

That was the first thing came out of his mouth, and then in reply to their obviously perplexed expressions he explained it to them.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"GRIS!"

"I think I need an aspirin…"

"AWESOME!"

"… I guess it could work…" everyone looked at Sara Sidle incredulously, although most weren't too surprise. "It solves a majority of problems, the kid can be kept track off at all times and Warrick won't have a problem leaving him home alone, Cath, Lizzie is with your grandmother and Sam outside the country right? Nick, you live alone… Greg, I assumed you're into the idea already."

"…For how long?" it was Catherine who spoke up, she wasn't completely against it and honestly, she was a little worried in staying home alone in the first place anyway.

"At most, about a three to four weeks, but it could be less," it was Warrick who replied.

"I'm in…" Nick raised his hands in defeat.

"So we'll be at a motel or something?" Greg was wondering whether he should tell his mom he was sleeping over.

Danny Fenton was a part-time ghost hunter in Amity Park and thus, was busy and occupied on a daily basis. Most of the time, he barely is aware of what's happening in school, let alone the rest of the world. His sister had just called in last minute and was in near panicked sister mode when he mentioned the "CSI Las Vegas team". Between the 'be careful Danny!' and 'don't be stupid!', he managed to get the fact that his sister was worried since he'll be living with a group of highly acclaimed detectives who were very good in their line of work.

"They aren't like most adults here in Amity, Danny, all they need is a little evidence and suspicious-acting teenager to figure out your secret...oh yeah, Sam and Tucker know about you ghost-hunting business there, I think they bugged our phones or something but don't worry, all flights have been delayed for a week or so."

"That's good, I need to go Jazz, I think I hear someone coming!"

"Alright, bye lil'bro…stay safe…"

The boy was too distracted to notice how more worried his sister sounded than usual. Danny quickly slipped his phone back to his pocket. He could hear foot steps from out side the motel door.

"Whose there?"

"This is Nick, got some of your stuff kid."

The teen recognized the voice, despite having met the CSI only once. He let the man in. Danny raised his eyebrows at the bags the man was carrying.

"Those aren't my stuff…"

"… Yeah, I went by the hotel and they told me your parents had your stuff brought along their last flight, unfortunately…"

He gave the sympathetic smile at the teen who groaned.

"… Then what are these?"

"Remember Greg?"

"You mean the skinny blond guy?"

"Yeah, he had his mom get some of his old clothes, figured it should fit you…"

The teen sighed in relief and smiled, saying thanks as he dug through the luggage's insides. He was very glad to find the 'skinny blond' at least had a decent taste in clothes. He had feared of seeing retro clothes from the 1960's. He looked up to the man looking at him again questioningly.

"What? Is there something on my face?" The teen touched face feeling for anything.

"No, it's nothing really but, aren't feeling a bit tired? You look rather well for someone who's been assaulted and very recently hospitalized…" It was true, according to Warrick the kid had been battered up pretty badly, plus a supposed fresh burn that had disappeared mysteriously when taken to the hospital.

Danny gulped and nervously began to fidget, trying to come up with a good lie… Answering that he had super healing ghost powers was a big no-no.

"Err, I guess I'm just not all that tired I mean…"

"No worries kid, just wondering, don't push your body too hard alright? Go rest, we've got a guard patrolling you twenty-four seven so there's no need to feel anxious."

Picking a up set of clothes, the CSI passed it to the teenager who nodded dumbly.

"What's this for?"

"Pajamas, can't have you sleeping in those can't we?"

Looking down at his body, he blushed furiously like any shy teen as he realized he was still wearing a very thin hospital gown.

"Err, good idea…" Danny practically snatched the clothes from the amn before zooming straight into the bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

He smiled nervously at the pretty and older brunette who had come in with the rest if what he assumed was the famous CSI Las Vegas team. They had come in to see him, telling him that his official guardian at the moment was Warrick Brown. Honestly, Danny didn't mind, the guy was cool to him and way nicer than any adult, excluding his parents, had ever had. The rest were introduced to him, another pretty lady who looked older named Catherine Willows, the guy who looked around twentyish Greg Sanders, and Gil Grissom the head.

To him, they all looked very intimidating... especially when he was in his PJ's at the moment.

"So Danny, how old are you?" it was a relatively simply question for him to answer, to his relief.

"Fourteen..." It was a bit embarrassing to note that most kids his age were at least Sarah's height not under.

"So what are you doing in Las Vegas then?"

Soon everyone had settled in the room except Greg and Nick who went to buy some take-out. Calmly and casually, they questioned the teen and soon the conversation had put Danny at ease around the new strangers. It was unusual, at least to the teenager's terms and conditions on how normal adults act with "children" like him. He expected the blame the immature and irresponsible teenager game. Not like this at all. He was reluctant as a bunny rabbit stuck in a new cage, trapped but being cared for all the same. He liked the Catherine and Sarah, both reminded him of really cool aunts you see in television shows. Grissom looked really creepy smiling with a glint in his eye, but seemed nice enough. Warrick was the person he had adjusted to the most and felt the most comfortable with. The only "suckish" thing of the whole ordeal was the fact that he couldn't lie to them... true, it may be due to his poor lying abilities, but it was also due to the fact that they were sharp observant detectives. _He was just so lucky at times._ Sarcasm was dripping from his thoughts.

Suddenly a very important question came to him.

"Do you guys have a laptop?"

"Internet?" it Catherine who replied.

"Yeah."

"I'll get Greg's bag..."

Catherine Willows was the only teen-expert in the team, having one of her own. Teenagers had three basic needs: junk food, technology, and more junk food. Admittedly, she was reluctant in joining this, CSI slumber party but she had high suspicions Grissoms inspiration for this little excursion had been Ecklie's persistence for "team bonding". Nevertheless, she still went along with it, somewhat feeling that everyone in the team might actually need this "bonding" session; she considered her team as a second family. Life in Las Vegas wouldn't have been the same without them to her. Digging out a sleek black laptop, she wondered if the motel had a wireless internet in the first place.

Luckily, the kid seemed well-adapted to the laptop and got a signal. Deciding to leave the teen in peace, the team lets the boy get engrossed in the corner. Catherine could see his lightning fast fingers, very well-adapted in the art of surfing the net. Maybe he was checking out some sports or some band teenagers are into nowadays.

Danny furiously started typing in what he was looking for, "GHOSTS". Of all his ghost hunting experience, he had a feeling these ecto-beings were on a whole different species from what he was used to fighting. It had been... too malevolent, the last thing he wanted was to be caught in surprise again. It had definitely been a ghost, but more of a dark spirit or soul. Too much hatred and emotion had been passed on from its attacks. He had been lucky when the Fenton Thermos had been able to suck in the ghost. He had a nagging feeling those things were native to the city of Las Vegas, if not, were not uncommon there. Meaning he'd be meeting another soon enough... who knows how many people have been murdered. So far, almost every case under the CSI team had been solved, thus it had been under 'normal' conditions, meaning nothing supernatural could have been involved. So why did the attack occur when the ghost boy decided to pay a short visit?

His stomach twisted at the thought of him being the cause of the fatal attack. He really hoped it had been a coincidence, but that rarely happened to him.

"Hey kid!"

Danny was startled for a second before realizing one of the CSI guys Nick was looking at him worriedly.

"You looked a little green, you okay?"

It took a moment for the teen to realize that the rest of the team had gone off, leaving him and Nick alone. He shook his head, smiling to show he was fine as he took the offered slice of pizza.

"You mind eating vegetarian? "

"Nah, I have a friend who's an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian," he munched happily, better than grass on toast.

"Well then, you should get along well with Sarah then..."

"Where are the others?"

"On shift actually, I'm just here to keep an eye out for you." Nick internally sighed, not that he minded the kid but he got stuck in baby-sitting duties due to lack of staff available from the police and the picking of the shortest end of the stick. He took note that the kid cringed a little when he mentioned looking out for him. Now that he noticed, the kid looked a bit nervous... that look was familiar somehow... it was the look of guilt. The very same ones he gets when they interrogate a suspect.

Smirking, he sat right beside the teenager and plastered a very knowing smile on his face.

"You shouldn't be too much of a problem right? Not like you're planning to sneak out or anything completely unsupervised out in the streets..."

The stuttering and muttering and the shifting of eyes confirmed the CSI's suspiscions... despite the teen mustering up and nervous "No way".

"Well no worries, I'm staying right here, we're gonna be hanging out together for the whole night!" Nick sounded enthusiastic as he clapped the teen's back.

The teenager was grumbling on the inside, knowing that there was no chance for ghost patrolling tonight.

"I've got an ID for the victim, a Darryl Limberg, matched it from the dental records." Sarah handed a photograph to Grissom.

"An Asian?" The bug expert asked as he took note of the picture.

"Half, his father was American and mother was Chinese, afraid his parents are already deceased and no indication on who's or vic's closest relative at the moment..."

Taking the file, he flipped through the personal information himself.

"According to this, he's already married... and widowed, his wife died of an accident...." He looked up to see Sarah who was thinking.

"Accident... her parents are?" inquired the brunette.

"Mrs. Limberg, formerly known as Chan Yi Hui, has an American citizenship but her bloodline was purely Chinese... Her parents are still alive and well, living at the outskirts of the city."

"The murder was especially brutal, almost a crime of passion, maybe his wife's parents might be blaming Mr. Limburg for her death."

"Possible, me and Greg will look up Mrs Limburg's death."

"Good, I'm heading for the autopsy report."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Danny stared dejectedly at the ceiling. His roommate had left, trusting the teen wouldn't run off for the moment. The teen wasn't planning to... yet. He knew he needed to know more about this ghost before getting himself killed, again. The problem was that he had too little clues; all he could base his research on was violence, blood, and evil... which we're most malevolent supernatural beings. He needed something specific, an origin, a culture, or even a hint of uniqueness. Danny had had his fair share of ghost research and has found many different countries have different ghosts.

The way the body is treated in funerals and death ceremonies seem to have some effect on how the spirit or soul ends up. He had just scratched the surface over these topics, knowing full well he'd have to find more clues before he could dive into more research work. He could take over one the CSI members but he wasn't sure how could deceive these specific adults.

Maybe he should list down the cons and pros. Cons first.

They weren't really as clueless as normal townspeople.

He sucked at lying.

He didn't know who's in charge of the case.

He couldn't leave the room reassuringly without getting caught.

He wasn't even sure where the lab is.

Now the pros...

Or maybe could just ask... asking sounded simple...and easy. He could reason out that details of the case might trigger some memories.

The teen nodded at himself in approval. It sounded like feasible excuse.

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"Why not, I'd go crazy getting stuck in a hotel room all day," Greg added to the discussion.

"He'd just be around the office, he's a teenager not a five year old, and he'll be fine on his own and probably won't get into too much trouble with the right ground rules." Catherine had the most experience in dealing with teens.

"What about the dead bodies he'd be seeing? I don't think he'll feel very comfortable with corpses as neighbours." Nick argued.

"I already told the kid, he's not giving in, he's just bored and wants to help with the case, figures he might trigger a memory or two if he sees something familiar in the evidence. "Come on, he's good kid that means well, let him stay in one of the spare offices and we can check up on him now and then."

Sarah nodded in agreement. "He is a material witness and if he wants to see some of the evidence or the body to help jog something, I don't see why we should stop him."

Everyone turned to Grissom expectantly. He raised his eyebrows at the team.

"Go for it."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The teenager obediently followed his temporary guardian Warrick Brown as they headed for the parking lot opposite the motel. Danny was curious on what it would be like in the lab, he expected the worse considering what he's experienced on a daily basis. There were a lot of things in the ghostzone that he'd rather forget but admittedly it's made his gut solid as steel. Most ghost end up in the ghostzone for eternity for a reason, and the usual are violent and bloody deaths. Many of Princess Dora's subjects have vividly described and shown him the cause of their demise.

He shuddered at the thought.

From the corner of his eye, he saw an old lady struggling with her packages on her way to the motel.

"Hey, umm, Mr. Brown, could you give me sec?" The teenager didn't give the man a chance to answer before running back across the street.

Warrick looked surprised to see his ward running back to the motel, figuring he might have left something behind. He smiled in further surprise that his ward was helping an elderly woman hold several bags in his arms. Even from a distance, he could see the woman smile appreciatively at the young teenager who waved it off before going straight back to the lot.

"Sorry about that."

"Nothing to apologize for kid, come on, we'll get breakfast before heading for the station."

Right as they reached the diner, Warrick wondered to himself why he and his fellow colleagues always eat there. He shrugged away his thoughts as he followed the teenager in.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Danny was shyly looking around the area, not wanting to cause any problems for the team. Many of the equipment looked familiar to one's in the Fenton Lab; the crucial difference was the extreme lack of neon green ectoplasm.

In the end, the team decided to let the teenager in on the case and all the evidence. At least, up to what they thought he could handle or in this case, stomach in. He examined the crime scene photos without even flinching; the murder weapon had been barely glanced at as if the kid knew it was irrelevant, and the finale.

"He didn't look grossed out..." Greg said in shock. "and I puked the first time!"

"Is it just me or are kids normally this unperturbed by dead corpses and bloody, violent crimes." Nick added.

"The autopsy seemed to have interest him a lot, he kept asking specific details on the body, what was missing, what's been left behind..." Sarah commented. "He didn't seem to into gory stuff either, you could tell he was sad about the death, almost guilty in fact."

Warrick had walked the teenager back from the autopsy lab. The whole way the CSI kept quiet as he watched his ward in deep thought. He was impressed to see the boy didn't back down from any of the goriest parts of the case, but he wondered if this was even normal for a fourteen year old to take in. Oh wait, he was sixteen. He kept forgetting that. Daniel Fenton wasn't in the database, so he's clean of any criminal records. 'Good kid' was what he had called Danny, and so far the teenager has failed to show anything that contradicted it.

"The victim's dead wife was Chinese right?"

"Uh yeah, according to records, her parents are still alive as well, why do you ask?"

"Just curious, did she die naturally?"

"Now that you mentioned it, I think the others mention her death was accidental."

"How accidental?"

"I think she was killed at home, electrocuted by faulty wiring, husband sued..."

The teen fell silent again and immediately went straight to Greg's laptop before the CSI could ask him anything else. Leaving Danny in the office, Warrick went back to Sarah who was studying most of the photos.

"Hey."

Sarah acknowledge him with a 'hmm'.

"No help on the crime scene photos too?"

"Nothing, aside from what Greg and I saw, which was in literal term, a blood bath, there's nothing else."

"Doc didn't get anything from the body too right?"

"Too many of the organs were removed to confirmed cause of death, even the brain was missing... at least a few scrambled parts were left behind." The experienced African American shuddered at remembering the corpse. "But the victim was definitely alive when that happened."

Nick entered the room carrying a file.

"More bad news?" Sarah asked.

"Yup," it was the youngest CSI who replied, who had followed behind Nick.

"The parents were out of the country at that time, apparently, they went back to their home country Singapore for two months, and they have solid alibis." Nick concluded.

"They could still have hired someone." Greg protested.

Sarah shook her head in disagreement.

"The crime's too messy and personal for a hired killer, maybe it was an old enemy or lover? We can check out his contacts for interviews about his life in work and in the past."

"We're on it," Nick and Greg left.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Danny smiled victoriously, finding something in his search. He suspected the ghost that he'd fought was vengeful, and cursed. He had done more research on the wife's background, and found out her parents had been Singaporeans. It narrowed his search down significantly. There were traditional ways they prepare the funeral apparently.

_So if the wife's parents were suspicious of the accident, they'd want revenge. Accordingly, they should have made their daughter's body wear black or white and then cremated. Since they could bury their daughter in Las Vegas, they probably didn't' bother with cremation so that leaves the funeral. _

His eyes widen at the picture, luckily, the accident had been given a little publicity due to the uproar both husband and parents caused. So pictures were taken during the funeral. The corpse was wearing red. He's read some websites on wearing red. It meant the victim was treated with injustice and the red would ensure the spirit would come back for its revenge. Even suicides sometimes practiced it.

_So the parents didn't think it was accident, for revenge, they couldn't use the justice system due to lack of evidence... So they cursed him... through their deceased daughter. _

The teenager looked at the thermos sympathetically. He should probably find away to release the soul in peace. But for now, he wondered if others have done the same, it's possible that some copied the practice because of the publicity the funeral had gotten. He'll have to look into that later. For now, he'll have to figure out how to catch these ghosts more easily, or at least a way to lure them. It looked like a grim and slow process, he'll have find out which funerals had used the practice and he'll have to look in each individual case to figure out who'd be the next target.

_Great... where can I even get that kind of information? Maybe I can call up some funeral homes if the practice is becoming trendy..._

Assuming that most funeral homes have websites, he began a search on it. Leaving the computer to process the search, he looks around the office for a phone book. The oblivious teenager didn't notice the audience behind the glass door.

Warrick looked at the boy strangely, wondering if the CSI ward was trying to solve the case himself. From the kid's expression, it seemed that he had found something online. He should probably ask Greg to look up the history on his laptop to find out. Greg himself joined him shortly as he noticed his fellow colleague spying on the teenager.

"What's he doing?" the blonde whispered.

"Looking something up, I think the kid found something online, he was very interested in the wife's background."

"You think the parents are still involved?"

"I'm not sure, but Danny seems to think so."

They could see Danny writing down something from the book and quickly tucking in the information into his pocket.

"Hey, have you ever seen material witnesses who've just witness act this sane and calm?"

"You have a point, kid's pretty focused and stable, Fenton kid is kind of weird..."

"Weird but a good kid, he helped an old lady before he left the motel; he's got morals and manners..."

"Come on, Nick and I need some help on the vic's contacts, we'll question your ward later."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

"I've got something on one of the victim's neighbours," Nick was digging through some of the interviews in the file. "It's confirming the suspicions of the parents that the death of the wife hadn't been accidental, the neighbour mentions that they vic and his wife had frequent fights... one of several occasions, and the wife had been threatened by our vic..."

"Her parents probably knew about her situation, it's no wonder they were against the case being claimed an accident..." Greg added.

"One of the neighbours had been a fellow native; he mentioned the funeral being unusual..." Nick read through further. "The wife's corpse wore red rather than the traditional black or white."

"I thought red was supposed to be happy, celebrating colour," Greg interjected. "What's so cheery about a dead relative?"

"According to the natives, the red in the funeral signifies injustice and that the spirit would become hell bent on revenge..."

"So maybe, the spirit had a little help; did the wife have any close friends?" Greg asked.

"Maybe we'll find something in her file, according to this; she was professor on Egyptian History," flipping through the a few pages, Nick continued. "Description says she was passionate of the subject, I've got a few names of friends here, come on Greg."

Both were heading out the door when Warrick came in the room.

"Hey Warrick, we've got some possible leads on some of the wife's friends."

"That's good, hey Greg, could you do me a favour?"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The blonde peered through the crack of the door and the black-haired teen almost dozing off on the laptop. He noted how tired the teenager looked before entering.

"Hey kid!"

Danny jolted awake and looked around dazedly to see Greg in the room.

"You mind if I use my laptop for a second? I just need to check up on a few files, you like hell, better get nap on the couch kiddo," Greg helped the teen who immediately fell asleep on the couch.

Making sure the boy was out of commission, he quickly scanned through the laptop's history.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

"Woah." Was the only thing Nick could say at the moment.

"I know. The kid's faster than us in crime-solving; I think he could replace me." Greg concluded, sounding a bit nervous that he might really be replaced as he relayed the information concerning Danny to Warrick and the rest of the CSI. "He already knew about the red funeral thing, in fact, it looks like he was solving the whole thing one his own by the looks of it."

"Seriously?" Nick was still on one-word replies and questions.

"He's already looking up where the funeral home the victim's wife was put in." The young CSI added.

"Why the wife?" Warrick asked.

"Maybe he had a hunch? I dunno, but half of his research was on supernatural junk, it could be related to the wife's culture, he could be linking it back to her parents."

"Maybe..." Warrick looked doubtful. If Danny was intelligent enough to go this far without any help from evidence, why would he go this far for something as trivial as superstitions? The kid knew something they didn't; he was pretty damn sure about that. "Does Grissom know about this yet?"

"Warrick!" a shout came through the door where a panicked Catherine barged through. "I can't find him!"

"Cath, calm down! Who are you talking about?"

"Danny! I can't find him anywhere!"

"What?"

Just like that, everyone went into a state of frenzy, a first in the Crime Scene Investigative labs of Las Vegas. The officers at entrances were questioned; Danny wasn't allowed to go out without someone of authority. He had to be somewhere in building. At least that was what everyone else thought. In all the commotion, an oblivious teenager wondered if he would be missed.

The halfa flew to the back of the building, phasing through walls silently. Danny hoped that they wouldn't notice him missing for a little while, but he had little choice when his ghost's sense went off... and it was the bad kind. He figured out his ghost sense was triggered by a ghost nearby, but said ghost had be pretty powerful to be able to let off such a long-range aura. He was already by-passing the second block. The ghost from last time was tough to beat but he captured it nevertheless. This one had to be new.

Finally, he could feel the pulse of ecto-energy unbearably close. Just around the corner, the teen surmised.

He swerved straight into an alley only to turn even paler than his alter ego. He almost lost his breakfast at the sight. A small little girl, glowing in an unearthly red, chewed at the woman's intestines as if they were candy. He could see the blood pooling at the dirty ally floor. The woman's face was contorted in a horrified expression. Another malevolent ghost, just as violent as the last one. The demonic looking spirits seemed unaware of the halfa hovering behind her. Danny shakily took out his thermos, never experiencing the last attack on the victim as early in stage as this. The man had been already dead and unrecognizable by then, and the ghost had been leaving when he had arrived.

He really, really hoped this was all just a nightmare.

Knowing how dangerous and violent these spirits could become, Danny slowing and carefully reached for his thermos. If he was lucky, maybe he could just grab the ghost before he'll face any retaliation. But his luck never was on his side...

The small ghost froze and quickly turned to towards the halfa, twisting her neck unnaturally in a contorted angle.

"_Hello ghost child..."_

Green eyes widened in shock. This ghost knew he was. That was bad.

"_I believe you have a companion of mine, quite a beast is she? Of course, a halfa as powerful as you shouldn't have any difficulty in defeating her... But I wonder how you'll fare with me?"_

Barely giving him time to react, the spirit moved fast towards Danny who almost didn't see the attack coming. By a few millimetres, he saved himself from the sharp rows of green teeth already deeply stained in blood. Swerving to the left sharply and hurtling at the halfa once more, the demonic ghost missed him again.

"What are you! Why are you hurting these people?" the teen blurted out.

For a second, the terrifying ghost morphed into a shape of an innocent little girl crying and softly replying.

"_Because they hurt me."_

The image dissipated into the air. Suddenly it reappeared, throwing itself at him again; keen to dig its teeth into his flesh. Pushing up shield, he winces at the sheer force of the ghostly body slamming against his barrier. It seemed to have dazed the spirit for a split second, giving him a chance to throw a ice beam, freezing it on the spot.

Quickly, he sucked the frozen spirit into his trusty thermos, breathing a sigh of relief as morphed back to his human form.

"Danny?"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

_ "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God."_

Only thing was running through his mind as he saw a familiar adult whom he vaguely remembered was from the CSI approach him. He randomly wondered if he'll end up in prison, juvenile jail or the mental hospital once he was accused of first-degree murder. Worst, his parents get told he's half-ghosts and he'll get dissected molecule-by-molecule... He suspected the last one. One more look at the guy and a name finally clicked, Grissom. The bug-guy who apparently is the leader of the best of CSI team in United States, yup, he was so doom.

"Danny? What are you doing here?" the man looked surveyed the scene, his eyes widening at the sight of a mutilated body in a wrecked alley plus a visible shaking teen.

"I-I..." the trembling halfa for once, was scared shitless... His secret was out.

"Danny, take my hand," his voice was gently but silently commanding like a parent's.

Numbly, the teenager went in autopilot mode as he wordlessly followed every command. Grissom pulled the boy to his side, making sure the teenager was completely unharmed, save the fact Danny looked like he was in shock. Taking out his cell phone, he called Warrick.

"Yes he's here, I found him at the alley between the Richmond building and the Fifth Avenue; he's fine but you'll have come here with Brass, there's another body."

The man calmly steered the teenager out the alley and into his car which was right at the sidewalk. Big blue eyes were visibly terrified, no surprise there. The kid managed to get out the building guarded by cops, and find another body that was violently mutilated as the last one. Did the kid know the killer? And he was carrying the thermos again, Grissom observed. Either Danny managed to predict the killer's next move or the killer managed to make contact with the teenager somehow.

"Danny, I'm going to the scene, stay put till Warrick gets here alright?" the halfa nodded, starting to slowly getting his bearings back. "_He didn't see me go ghost?"_

"Alright, Danny, I need you to tell me how you got here." The man was wondering how on earth the teenager managed to evade the guards, was security getting that poor in the labs. How Danny even find the body in the first place suggests the boy had either predicted it or was told by the killer himself somehow.

"Umm... I was just going to sneak out and walk for a bit, it was getting a little dull in there and I just wanted walk around... then I heard a scream, I didn't think when I ran to it..." Danny's voice didn't waver, to his relief.

Grissom just nodded before leaving the teenager to rest in his car and heading straight back to the scene. Something was missing in the puzzle, and the bug expert knew it.

In the end, Warrick had been the one who drove a sleeping Danny back at the motel. Carefully carrying the surprisingly light teenager up to their room, the man wondered if Danny had a poor diet or had a fast metabolism that that got rid of all that junk food. Relieved that boy was still asleep; he quickly took a look under the boy's shirt. Sure enough, the scars were still there and the burn was practically invisible. He knew what he saw, and there was definitely a bad burn on the Danny's shoulder that night. Those things normally do not heal over night.

Then again, Danny hadn't been showing any signs of being normal in the first place.

Mature and fast detective skills, apparently quick healing abilities, paranoia, many old scars littering his body... not at all normal.

It wasn't very reassuring to think the kid found another fresh body and murder scene. The guards had admitted they had left their post for few minutes, so Danny sneaking out was very plausible. It was also not very comforting to know that said kid would instinctively run straight at danger, whenever possible. In fact, it was downright terrifying to think his temporary ward would be that reckless.

He felt sort of terrified to think kids would be running AT the screams, rather than away from them. Maybe he should ask Catherine if it was teen thing.

He should probably look up Danny's background, if the kid had record, which he doubt and he might find other clues to explain his strange ward. Gently, he pulled off the teen's shoes and tucked him into bed. It had been a long night. A quick knock was heard before Greg entered the room. They had shifts at work and at the motel, and Greg and Warrick were up first.

"Hey Warrick, I brought some pizza and the files you asked for." He precariously balanced the pizza box over a stack of files and laptop. "It's not much, and the envelope has most of these are fresh photos from the latest scene."

Both sat down together in the separate living room, rifling through the files.

"Warrick, this is all pretty normal stuff for a kid, his grades had dropped over the pass month from B's to C's but that kinda thing always happens in school... teacher's comments say he's 'lazy' and 'irresponsible'..." Greg whispered. Not good to get caught by a teenager with their private files.

"Right, they must either be blind, or Danny's not acting like himself when he's in school... in the first place, how does the kid act when no one's around?" Warrick asked.

"Surveillance tapes." Greg showed a small thumbdrive. "The kid's sharp, when he left the building, he made sure to be in ALL the blindspots, none of the tapes caught him except for the one in the room."

They viewed the video in Greg's laptop. Unfortunately, it didn't have audio. At least they could clearly see what the teenager was browsing through in the net. To their surprise, every twenty to thirty minutes, he would delete the history. It was just luck that gave Greg the leeway to even have gotten the latest history when Danny fell asleep. Danny was writing anything he thought important in small notebook. Nodding and shaking his head as he muttered to himself in the video. After a while, he returns to searching online and kept his notebook in his back pocket. That was when the exhausted teen finally dozed off (forgetting to delete the history) and allowing Greg to sneak in to take the laptop.

A few minutes after that, Danny suddenly wakes up gasping. He moves out from the camera's view and disappears completely after that. Stopping the video, Greg turns to Warrick.

"He's got a notebook aside from the weird thermos." Greg suggested. "So do we take it while he's asleep or ask?"

"... I think he keeps it in his pockets, and hugs the damn thermos in his sleep, not a good idea if he wakes up." Warrick shakes his head, adding. "It doesn't help that the kid will completely paranoid and jumpy since the last crime."

Both decided to keep an eye out for the notebook, just in case Danny lowered his guard. They called Grissom, hoping for more details on the new case.

"The body was badly disfigured, and most of the organs had been ripped apart, actually the correct word is eaten. Doc says he can't locate any of the missing chunks of flesh, might be a case for cannibalism... But there was an usually cold area near the body, it was almost at freezing point when Sarah checked its temperature, we haven't identified the victim though." Grissom concluded.

"Did you find anything unusual with Danny when you found him?" Warrick asked over the phone.

"Trauma was normal, but I highly suspect he was hiding something in his statement, maybe he's protecting someone? A suspect?"

"Maybe... but he doesn't have any record of leaving his hometown aside from Las Vegas, and this was his first trip. He might have made digital buddies online, but how close can you get to a person over the web? To the extent of allowing them to commit murder?"

"Too many questions Warrick, and we don't have any answers, for now. It is rather disturbing how Danny seems to be running into so many scenes."

"Right, a kid being involved in one of our most gruesome cases is not at all appealing... especially now that Danny seems to be such a good and sweet kid."

"We'll figure things out, get some rest, we've got a lot of answers to find tomorrow."

Warrick sighed before hanging up. Greg had gone to the bathroom half way through the conversation, getting ready for bed. Suddenly, he hears a small cry from Danny's room. Rushing to the room, he sees the small teenagers writhing and whimpering under the blankets.

A nightmare, he deduced.

He sees tears streaking the boy's pale soft cheeks. A very bad nightmare.

He quickly wraps his arms around the lithe body, getting an instant hug back from the unconscious teen. Finally, he sighed again for the day. Removing his shoes and jacket, he slips in beside the boy who still held onto him like a lifeline. The nightmare seems to have passed as Danny was silently slumbering away in the man's arms. But he still didn't let his hug go.

Gently, Warrick wipes away the tears and sweat on the halfa's face.

He looks up to see Greg grinning madly as he quickly takes a shot of Warrick and Danny, knowing full well that older CSI wouldn't dare move lest waking up Danny.

The darkness was everywhere. The blood was never ending. Danny kept slipping in the river of blood, pouring from the mountain of bodies. The ghosts, no, they were more like demons were coming. Something woke them up. They were here for revenge. Blood. He was drowning in it.

His eyes burned, his tongue felt the coppery taste fill his mouth. It was sickening, and he felt like hurling.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him out, enveloping him in warm and safe arms.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Greg had gone off without Warrick to work, seeing how much the man couldn't really move lest he wanted Danny to wake up so early in the morning. They'll probably be there in a few hours anyway, and he was pretty certain Grissom would count it as a valid excuse for being late as amused he would be when hears about it.

Not to mention, the damning photographic evidence. He'd bet the rest would demand a copy from him at least.

Hopefully, Warrick will have enough time to lecture the kid about running off to a murder scene all by himself was a bad idea... no matter how dangerously cool it sounded. Still a bad idea though.

Going straight to the autopsy room, he finds Sarah standing with Doc. On another table, were the pieces of flesh he assumed to be what was left of the victim's innards.

"Greg, glad you could join us. May I?" Doc turned to woman's face which was contorted in horrified expression.

"So Doc, what killed her?"

"To be perfectly honest, I'm not really certain... you can see from her face how terrified she was, my best guess is that she was well-alive when whatever attacked her ripped open her chest and ate the rest of her insides." He pointed to the scraps of meat on the opposite table. "Those are rest of her intestines, lungs, and few pieces of her oesophagus, the only remains of her internal organs in the upper body."

"God..." Greg was practically speechless.

"Wait, so she was basically eaten to death?" Sarah asked, looking slightly green at the moment.

"I can't really be certain if there were other possibilities, there is very little left of the body I can actually infer from..."

"Woah, what do mean 'whatever'? You think it's an animal attack?" Finally finding his voice, Greg looked a bit sick as well.

"I certainly hope some sort of escaped, violent chimpanzee because there were very clear hand prints on both of her upper arms. Very small, almost like child's size." He lifts one of the arms to show them before picking up a rib. "The teeth that bit through one of the ribs showed some very sharp rows of teeth, I'll send it in for the lab to make an analysis... maybe they can find a match."

"Maybe?"

"... It might be a human, as disturbing as it sounds, but honestly speaking I highly suspect it is human considering the proportion of the hands; there are some eccentric individuals who have modified their teeth into rows of sharp fangs."

"There won't be many though, it's a lead."

**LINEBREAK---**

"Ummm..." Danny wasn't really sure how to go about his situation.

He'd almost forgotten how nice it was to have a bigger stronger body protectively (alright he admits it!) spooning him. When he was ten, it took him at least three months of sleepwalking back into his parents' room before he finally managed complete independence in his sleep. Now, he might develop that long-lost habit once more. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely recalled someone comfort him in his nightmares last night.

Contentedly snuggling back into the sleeping man's arms (keeping down his embarrassment), he gave himself a moment to think. His dreams/ nightmares were informative, despite their gruesome nature. He guessed it was another new developing ability, giving him information on what he was sensing in Las Vegas. Vengeful spirits who were extremely pissed, the ones whom justice has failed. For some reason, they managed to gain enough spiritual energy to become corporeal.

Thank Clockwork that he had friends like Sam who forced him to read on magic and any related topics to the paranormal.

He'll need to look up on any artefacts that have recently entered the city. Get rid of their power source, then they should return back to their harmless but still vengeful ghostly selves. Hopefully anyway. It was at least a lead. If he was lucky, he might even leave Vegas with his secret identity intact.

**LINEBREAK---**

"Jessica Hurlock, 35 years old, married to a George Hurlock, currently working as blackjack dealer in different casinos in the area… according to this, her six year old step daughter had been in an accident at home… drowned in a bathtub…" Nick closed the file. "She has nothing to do with the previous murder aside from the fact both cases involved a family member ending up in an accident."

"So we have another gruesome murder with the same teenager as a possible witness and virtually have no idea on how exactly both victims were killed?" Sarah concluded.

"Yup." Greg slouched onto the desk.

"Greg?" Catherine had entered the room, interrupting their discussion.

"Yeah Cath?"

"Have you seen Warrick, he's suppose to be here thirty minutes ago…" she looks suspiciously at the younger man's sudden mischievous grin.

Quickly ruffling through his pockets, Greg reveals a standard digital camera. Everyone in room curiously peered over his shoulder to see what was so important in the device that… The women just went 'aww…' at the image of Greg being hugged by the much smaller Danny. Nick immediately opened his laptop and demanded the memory card while snickering the whole way through. Catherine and Sarah, soon after, demanded Nick to email them the endearing photograph.

"Can we keep him?"

"Don't we already have Warrick?"

"I meant Danny!"

**LINEBREAK---**

To Warrick's credit, he did manage to slip off the bed without disturbing his charge's sleep… much. Danny did wake up for a split second, showing off his adorably bleary look, before collapsing back into dreamland. Kid was restless in his sleep till he came along, so the older man let the boy sleep in. He, on the other hand, was incredibly late for work, but he couldn't exactly just leave the boy 'home alone', darn Hollywood movie.

He didn't have much choice but to call Grissom and explain his current situation.

_Ring ring…_

"Hello Warrick, I heard you were having a little family time with our charge?"

"What?"

"Nothing, is Daniel sleeping in?"

"Yeah, kid's been getting nightmares all night till I came, so he's still a bit tired."

"So you'll have to stay with him, I understand."

"Okay, cool, we'll probably be at the labs by noon…"

"By the way, instead of coming by here, just stay there… I'll be coming to get a statement from Danny from the latest case."

"Why here? You could just talk to the kid when we get there…"

"And risk getting caught up in work so he could just sneak away from adult supervision and again, run into another crime scene. I'd rather not. The next time we find him in another scene, he might be hurt or worse, on a one way trip to the morgue."

Warrick shuddered at the thought.

"Alright, keep an eye on the kid 24-7, got it. I'm ordering breakfast and I expect lunch from you at noon."

"Count on it."

As he hung up, he heard a familiar whimpering from the bedroom. He sighed in resignation, before giving in to urge of protectiveness he had developed over Danny. He already chased bad guys away, nightmares wouldn't be too hard, he mused as he wrapped his arms around the slumbering teen.

Points to note: I didn't think they would make Danny as a suspect since he didn't have any direct physical evidence on the two scenes. That and Danny doesn't really fit a profile of a violent serial killer (They have his file). I suppose the lack of physical evidence (such as not having a speck of blood on him despite the scene being, well, bloody) is another point as well.


End file.
